Monday, December 31, 2007
farewell 2007
goodbye and, for most of the people Spot cares about, good riddance to 2007, and hello 2008. Happy New Year to everyone, may peace and goodwill prevail.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
more images from a Sunday morning walk
images from a Sunday morning walk VI
images from a Sunday morning walk V
images from a Sunday morning walk IV
images from a Sunday morning walk III
images from a Sunday morning walk II
Friday, December 21, 2007
winter solstice
well not quite because tomorrow is the shortest day, but the sunset tonight was a fitting marker for mid winter and the promise of the return of the light. The weather was very similar last year, it seems that these calm dry cold days are common around Christmas time.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
supper
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Sunday, December 09, 2007
stormy waters
the Tamar in spate this morning. The tree on the bank above the ladder is a useful reference point for comparison with calmer days (qv) at the same spot.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
a pause in blogging
Remember, things could be worse (we could be posting daily)!!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Nature notes - November 2007
The long dry early autumn period has produced a fantastic display of colour in the local woods though it looks as if it will be short lived. It remains a very barren time for mushrooms although just recently a few have started to appear.
I have noticed that often I see things in photographs that I failed to notice at the time. For example the spot of ‘milk’ on the underside of a milk-cap mushroom. This illustrates the difference between looking and seeing. Konrad Lorenz, the father of animal ethology, encouraged his students to learn simply by looking, for example at a bowl of goldfish, for months on end, so that they would learn to ‘see’ behaviour. It took me a long time to realise that there are two species of butterfly orchid in Greenscoombe woods that look very similar, but now I have learnt to see them and the many subtle differences between the two. Seeing is the prelude to knowledge.
Animals must have brain states without thoughts (cognitions in the jargon), a state of perpetual looking. We have thoughts that allow us to ‘see’ into the world although our thinking can sometimes interfere with experiencing. Perhaps the best mental state that a naturalist can achieve is to experience the world with knowledge but without thought, the aim of meditation. And thus I can recommend the former in the pursuit of the latter.
And so as our summer visitors depart, and our winter visitors arrive, and the newts look for safe hideaways, the last red admirals bathe in the sun and the myriad leaves carpet the ground, there is much to see and experience. Try it.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
nothing goes to waste
brackets growing on the trunk of a dead silver birch tree, making it look like some exotic jungle flower
Friday, November 09, 2007
the DVD - reflections:- images from a cornish parish
DVD (for TV) now available. Eight audio visual shows, combining photographs and music on the themes of wild flowers, wildlife, the rivers and landscapes of Cornwall in the Tamar Valley in the area of Stoke Climsland (plus pictures not available on this blog).
Reflections on:-
blue (7.13 mins) all things blue
water (8.48 minutes) all things watery
yellow (5.08 minutes) all things yellow
spring (3.46 minutes)
summer (9.01 minutes)
autumn (12.49 minutes)
spiritus (3.11 minutes) the church in the land
rubbish (2.36 minutes) bad behaviour views
more than 50 minutes of scenes, flora and fauna, combining the tranquil beauty of the Tamar Valley with pleasant music. Only £10, on request (use Spot's email address at spot.wildflowers@btinternet.com). Ideal Christmas presents.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
starlings
the starlings are back in great numbers. It is strange how they seem to disappear in the summer, and then return for autumn. The absence of posts recently is due to computer problems and no walks, but with any luck we will be fully functional again after tomorrow.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
mushrooms and other fungi
many zoned polyphore, very common, very variable colours, set off against the vivid green of sphagnum moss.
foam monster
I noticed this little patch of foam at the base of a small pine tree in a dark patch of conifers. I have no idea what it is due to but presumably there is a bug of some sort making it.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
squirrats
just to prove that rats are grey squirrels with bare tails. Current score:- rats 35 lurchers 0, match was abandoned at half time due to fog in dogs' heads.
Monday, October 22, 2007
sunrise spectacular
Sunday, October 21, 2007
fungi are back
for the first time this year there are some fungi appearing in the woods. The top picture is of a coral fungus growing on a pine stump; it looks exactly like a piece of white coral, but smells unpleasant. The next picture is my idea of what a mushroom should look like, minus the caterpillar on the top smoking a hookah. The bottom picture is of staghorn fungi.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
a camera shy bird
It is surprisingly difficult to get a good photo of magpies. This solitary bird has been hanging around the garden for several days and coming down to feed on the bird feeders.
waiting for sunrise
Thursday, October 18, 2007
as cold as a newt
a small newt of some sort that was caught out by last night's cold and was stunned into immobility outside the front door. As soon as it had warmed up a bit in my hand it was off. It was probably migrating from a garden pond somewhere nearby. All newts are protected (see link).
mist on the Tamar
with the first cold morning of the autumn comes the first frost, and the mist gathers in the river valley. Just visible in the far distance to the left is Princeton radio mast on Dartmoor.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Tamar images
a warm, soft day with early morning mist enveloping the river and moving through the trees. One solitary dipper bombing about.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
early hibernator
this hairy caterpillar (?tiger moth) was trying to burrow under a puffball, no hookah in sight though.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
meeting places
but I didn't have to walk far to see these rooks. I was wondering what they were doing but on reflection I think they were trying to warm up as the sun started to burn through the mist.
a soft day
the view from Kelly Bray woods, looking North. The church tower in Stoke Climsland is just visible through the mist.
Pictures are in short supply at the moment because walking is proving painful.